i hate foongus. i think playing the foongus war is very boring and i hate spore. it's not ban worthy, but i think it's very annoying and i hate it. so i built this team.
Pawniard @ Eviolite
Ability: Defiant
Level: 5
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
pawniard is one of my favorite pokemon of all time. i just love its design.
substitute blocks status moves like thunder wave and spore (i hate foongus). steel is a very good defensive typing that foongus can't touch. it 2hkos the most annoying pokemon (i hate foongus) in the tier after a swords dance.
defiant is a great ability and makes it really good into snubbull. intimidate triggers defiant and iron head ohkos after that. defiant can also deter a mud shot from glimmet and a defog from vullaby.
pawniard isn't exactly a great vullaby check despite its steel typing. heat wave is scary and weak armor forces a sucker punch 50/50 after an iron head. late game, if you can knock vullaby and get rocks and a swords dance up, it's an ohko. but most of the time, shellos is the much better vullaby check.
i like ghost and flying teras, but vullaby can handle fighting types so i generally use flying.
Vullaby @ Eviolite
Ability: Weak Armor
Level: 5
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 76 Def / 236 SpA / 196 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Roost
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Heat Wave
vullaby is a check to mienfoo which checks pawniard. at first i considered overcoat (i hate foongus) but weak armor is just better.
i prefer nasty plot over physical vullaby because i am horrible at managing recoil. if left unchecked, vullaby can win the game on its own. sometimes i use endure instead of roost, but roost gives vullaby more longevity.
Shellos @ Eviolite
Ability: Sticky Hold
Level: 5
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 68 HP / 212 Def / 180 SpD / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Earth Power
- Ice Beam
- Recover
it was either mareanie or shellos. i chose shellos for rocks and a better matchup into torchic.
i use tera poison to avoid sludge bomb poisons but i usually don't tera shellos unless i have to.
shellos is a great wall as long as you can outheal with recover. ice and ground are a good offensive combo.
Mienfoo @ Eviolite
Ability: Regenerator
Level: 5
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 196 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- Knock Off
- U-turn
- Fake Out
yeah no explanation needed. at first, i considered using slow bulky mienfoo to live high jump kick and u turn into gothita, but it felt very clunky in practice.
Torchic @ Life Orb
Ability: Speed Boost
Level: 5
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 36 Def / 196 SpA / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 9 HP / 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Tera Blast
- Protect
- Will-O-Wisp
magby jr is broken. torchic is the first starter i've ever picked and i'm glad i can use it here. i originally thought of using alolan diglett for more consistency, but i chose to go with torchic because i felt like there were too many overlapping niches with alolan diglett.
fire blast is great late game as long as i hit it and tera ground beats fire resists like mareanie and is 100% accurate.
Toedscool @ Eviolite
Ability: Mycelium Might
Level: 5
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Def / 36 SpA / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off
- Earth Power
- Giga Drain
i like toedscool. as a grass type, it's immune to spore (i hate foongus). originally i considered elekid but i wanted hazard removal so i went with toedscool. ground stab is always nice and it's very tanky.
i chose giga drain over spikes because i never found myself clicking spikes, but the great thing about toedscool is its versatility.
i think the defensive backbone of shellos and toedscool is very strong; mienfoo maintains momentum; and pawniard, vullaby, and torchic can all win after setting up.
however there are a couple main problems with this team:
1. chinchou
mienfoo has the best matchup but it's still not great. torchic wins late game after scouting out the tera, but chinchou is still hard to switch into.
2. mareanie
ice beam nails toedscool and shellos can't make much progress until the eviolite has been knocked off. sludge bomb poisons are very scary. nasty plot vullaby can be decent, but the matchup still isn't good. tera dragon beats torchic until the eviolite is knocked off.
3. elekid
tera ice is very scary. static can cripple pawniard and scouting out the tera is annoying. torchic can still win late game but only after you scout the tera.
4. opposing shellos
it's just annoying, but you can usually pp stall recover and win from there.
any feedback would be much appreciated! unfortunately my brain is square and i don't have replays, but i was finally able to hit top 100 on the ladder with this team.
the Mienfoo + Timburr or "Fightspam" breaking core aims to lure fighting checks (Mareanie, Foongus, Snubbull, Koffing) and trade. This enables the other fighter to make massive progress.
next time i will build around some of the ghost types of the tier!!
